


Star Wars: Crusade

by Zeible



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Asexual Character, Bisexual Character, F/F, F/M, Gen, Lesbian Character, M/M, Multi, On Hiatus, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Trans Character, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-18 15:16:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9390581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeible/pseuds/Zeible
Summary: A thousand years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic, the Galaxy has fallen into chaos after a mysterious event that led to death and disorder on a massive scale. Now, the Galaxy is divided between massive criminal empires, a shaky Alliance of outer rim worlds, a new breed of Sith with an unknown agenda, the broken remnants of the Old Republic, and a rising Empire served by a new kind of Jedi. In all this, a handful of disparate individuals from across time and space must band together to save the True Jedi from utter destruction.





	1. RID-38 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a remote world in the Mid Rim, a centuries-old droid is recovered by a malevolent criminal organization, and makes an unlikely ally in his plan to escape, and secure his freedom from those who would exploit his abilities to their own ends.

Droids were not often meant to survive more than a few decades- sometimes this was a deliberate choice on the part of their designers to force their customers to buy newer models (Or perhaps to prevent them from going rogue- a fear all biological sapients of the galaxy once had), but more often than not it was simply the way of things to build droids that couldn’t last- after all, if they _did_ last too long, they’d be outpaced by newer and better models, and have to be disposed of anyway. This was the way of things- this was the lot in life of a droid; an eternal cycle of construction, service, and senescence, always ending in destruction- and more often than not in ignonimous fashion.

 

Some droids, however, were built to last longer than others- those built as hyperspace explorers (A task that was admittedly ill-suited to droids- as droids were statistically far less likely to find new worlds than biologicals, for reasons unknown), or as personal assistants- those after all would often be given to more long-living species, such as Hutts or Talortai, among other long-lived species.

 

One race not known to build such enduring droids would be the indigenes of Geonosis, whose name was unpronounceable to other races, thus simply being termed “Geonosians”. As insectoids, their own lifespans were typically quite short, and they themselves were almost entirely droid-level in intelligence- this was rumoured to be the very origin of their droid-manufacturing skills. Still, in every group there are exceptions- and RID-38 was one of those exceptions.

 

He (For he was quite masculine, in his own judgement) was a very special droid, built for the Sith Empire in their crusade against the Republic. He was an infiltrator, built to sneak around Republic-controlled space in order to locate precursor artifacts. The Geonosians had instilled in him a great many skills- fluency in over 1,000 forms of communication, combat skills with both blasters and vibroblades, various forms of hacking tools, and most crucial of all, a unique processor built to analyze and adapt, far more than any other droid.

 

Unfortunately, he was deployed at the tail end of the Second War between the Republic and the Sith Empire, just as the so-called “Eternal Empire” invaded the galaxy and laid waste to Republic and Empire alike. In the chaos, he was damaged, lost, and forgotten, as the galaxy went on without him

This too, was not an unusual fate for droids. RID-38 had in fact expected as such, when he was sent out- it hadn’t mattered much at the time, as he had given very little thought to anything other to his mission. This focus, it would seem, was not enough to save him from being badly damaged and left to rust on some forgotten world in the Mid Rim. What was it’s name again?

 

“ _Ruusan…”_ a voice said- and RID-38 felt himself stirring to life.

 

“ _What’s that name mean, exactly_?” another voice said- different from the first, more smooth and strong, like the ones he’d heard from infiltrator droids more advanced than himself.

 

“ _It's a Rattataki name- like so many worlds, it was named after its explorer…”_ the words trailed off, and RID-38 felt himself shutting down once again. Before he deactivated fully, he could detect that he was being unearthed, and disassembled. The last thing he heard before shutting down was “The Boss has been looking…”

 

After a period of total inactivity, RID felt himself come online, though into sleep mode and not full activity, and his internal chronometer, having been reactivated in the cave, estimated he was offline for a period of roughly 3 Standard days. Running a diagnostic, he found that his systems were fully online- and some of his parts had been replaced with ones whose make and model he did not recognize, and seemed to be rather crudely made, compared to his own components.

 

Over the course of a standard hour, he detected most of his components being replaced or refurbished, and not in an altogether professional manner. He might’ve just been thrown from the frying pan to the fire, he realized, knowing the havoc and irreparable damage incompetent engineers could do to a droid.

 

Thankfully his fears went unrealized, and when it was finished, he could detect that his restoration had been largely successful- though many of his more lethal tools were removed, suggesting to him that whoever was rebuilding him wasn’t expecting him to be friendly.

 

At long last, his sensors came back online- limited compared to how they had once been, and altogether missing in the case of his components specialized in the recovery of Rakatan artifacts- that in particular was troubling, as it was his primary function to recover such artifacts. Whoever was rebuilding him was either unaware that such was his primary function, or had some ulterior motive.

 

Booting up his primary processor, RID scanned the room he was in- it was constructed almost entirely of cheap-looking durasteel, excepting the equally-cheap transparisteel windows showing the view of the planet’s dreary landscape, and was filled with crude and unfamiliar repair equipment. There was only a single door, and it was sealed with a simple mechanical lock, rather than an electronic one as was standard. Something was _definitely_ wrong.

 

The door opened to reveal humanoids- there were two of them, a tall, thin Human dressed in garish yellow clothes with equally garish yellow hair, and the other a short, fat Zabrak with filed down horns and wearing drab rags, cowering behind the Human.

 

“Alright, do you think you can get this droid working?” The Human said, in a strange dialect of Basic.

 

“Uh, Boss,” the squat Zabrak said, speaking up in the same dialect, “It uh, it already is working.”

 

The Human straightened, and looked at RID awkwardly. “I see,” he cautiously stepped towards the droid, seemingly afraid that he’d jump out and strangle him. “Droid? Can you hear me?”

 

RID restrained the urge to groan at this inept biological. “Yes sir,” he said, with as much feigned enthusiasm as he could muster, “I am RID-38, human-cyborg relations.” It was an implausible ruse, but RID had to try- these were clearly not Imperials, and therefore not people he could divulge any information to.

 

The leader looked at him, puzzled. “Huh?” He then turned to his subordinate. “You said this was an old Sith droid? I thought they didn’t _make_ protocols?!”

 

The Zabrak cringed. “Sir, I think it might be _lying_ , as a defense program, to uh, to withhold um, information?”

 

The Human blinked. “Oh,” he turned again to RID, “Okay _RID-38_ ”, he emphasized the serial, as if skeptical of it, “I’ve got some serious news for you. The Sith? They’re _gone_ , all of them are _dead_.”

 

RID was unfazed by this- leaving aside the fact that historical records showed that the Sith were _never_ truly dead, especially when the rest of the galaxy thought them to be, this was a common tactic of Republic and Independent interrogators to break Imperials and their droids- RID knew this, and wasn’t going to fall for the ruse.

 

“Sir, they...they _aren’t_ dead,” the little Zabrak said again, in an exasperated tone, “The Confederacy, sir? They’re Sith, remember?”

 

The Confederacy? RID had never heard of any Sith Confederacy, and it occurred to him that these two men, while obviously not on the side of the Sith Empire and no friends to him, were no interrogators either- everything they were doing was wrong, and what’s more, that they would opt to activate and question him rather than just activate his core processor and have him sliced indicated that they expected him to be obedient- something no-one familiar with Imperial droids would _ever_ do, if they wanted to live.

  


“Yeah but not the droid’s Sith- those are different Sith, remember?”

 

“Oh, that’s true, actually,” the Zabrak said, “Good point, Sir.”

 

The Human smirked. “Exactly,” he turned back to RID, “So, you’re old masters are all dead, and we’re here to let you know that you’ve come under new ownership.”

 

“New ownership?” RID said, maintaining the servile facade.

 

“Yeah, the ownership of the Black Sun Syndicate,” the leader said, “And we’ve got plans for you.”

 

RID scanned the two of them- they were standard humanoids, a common target of his, and armed only with rusted vibroblades- for a criminal organization they were quite poorly equipped. Recalibrating his scanners, he analyzed what he could of the facility he was in- it was a standard pre-fabricated military base, probably repurposed by these cartel thugs as a temporary base while they conducted whatever operations they had on this planet. The layout was very straightforward, being several smaller rooms like this one around a single, much larger warehouse- that, he presumed, would be full of these Black Sun criminals.

 

Conducting another diagnostic, RID was pleased to find also that while he had been deprived of most of his onboard lethal armament, he still had his slicing tool (Which he hoped would work with these thugs’ crude computers), and his plasma torch (Being designed to cut through durasteel, it was very effective against biologicals like these two), and, best of all, his stygium cloaking device that allowed him to become invisible to all but the most thorough scans. With these tools, he knew, he could tear his way through this base.

 

Of course, there was the restraining bolt they’d installed- he’d have to work around that somehow. With his luck, he could tell an opportunity would soon present itself.

 

“Very well, sir!” he said, in a hammy, exuberant tone, “I am honored, to have come into your possession. To what end shall I aid you?”

 

The thin man grinned. “Glad to see you like it so much- you’re a very important part, you know.” He was clearly buying RID’s routine hook line and sinker.

 

The fat one, though, seemed frightened. “Sir, I think maybe we should consider going with the original plan? You know, selling him to the Con-”

 

The tall one slapped his subordinate. “Quiet!” he turned to RID. “Slaves, you know how they get. Had a lot of them in the old Empire, right?”

 

RID felt a growing fury in his core, but concealed it as best he could. “Of course, Master- though ours were generally less troublesome than _this_ one, I must say!”

 

The leader laughed, and slapped the slave again. “Yeah, we don’t get to beat ‘em as much as you’re masters did,” he stopped to laugh heartily, “Ahh, but well, maybe times are changing, eh?”

 

“I’m certain they are!” RID said, boring into the slave-driver with his optics. He was going to save this one for last, and he was going to kill him _slowly_.

 

The crime boss beckoned to RID. “Alright- you come along, I’ll show you the base,” he turned to the slave. “And you- I want you to run ahead and set everything up, so our new friend here can get to work finding what he needs to find.”

 

So they had _accidentally_ removed his search-tool, then- that was good to know.

 

“Sir, might I ask a few questions?” RID had more than a few, but he’d keep it simple, to avoid arousing the criminal’s suspicions.

 

“Sure, sure,” he said absently, “And later, you can check the computer for all the information you’ll need to do your thing- galaxy’s probably changed a lot since you were last online, I bet.”

 

“How long has it been, sir, since I was buried there?” it was unlikely this fool knew the exact time, but a rough estimate would be nice.

 

“Ehhhh,” he scratched the back of his head, “About...700 years, I think? Maybe 600? Not really sure- like I said, that stuff’s in the database in the main building.”

 

RID processed this- _700 years_ had passed. It was a shocking revelation, and while he was inclined to think the thin man was lying, he could tell from his body language that this was the truth. It was an odd sensation, to know that he was free- in a sense, at least. For now, he was still restrained, but at the very least, he had outlived those who callously left him to die on a barren planet.

 

They strode along the corridor of sterile durasteel, and reached the warehouse- it was a cluttered and filthy place, filled with piles of rock and dust-covered artifacts, as well as a few crates of what he presumed to be foodstuffs, a kolto barrel, and a weapons locker in one corner, holding not blasters, but vibroblades- again, where had the blasters gone? And for that matter, why was the kolto barrel so small, and why was it locked? Had there been some shortage, and it was now a precious commodity? Things were worse than he thought it kolto was rare.

 

Aside from the goods, the room was filled with thugs of various species and forms, all clad in a simple uniform of a black jumpsuit and coat, and with a logo of a black sunburst on a golden background, the “Black Sun” they were named for, apparently.

 

“This is the main building,” the thin man said, “Here’s where we store all the artifacts and such- go ahead and scan them.”

 

RID was dreading this moment. “Sir, I must inform you that I am missing a critical component, and cannot perform such a scan,” he supposed he could have bluffed, but that was as likely to displease this fool as the truth- and at least the truth might get him his scanner back.

 

The thin man gaped at him. “What component?”

 

“A scanner, sir, made of a Lehan crystal- irreplaceable, and vital to my primary function.”

 

The thin man roared in frustration, and  struck RID, then recoiled in pain after slapping his meatbag hand against solid durasteel. “OW!” he shook his hand and nursed it, “Okay, that was stupid of me, I admit.” he looked back at RID. “Sorry, didn’t mean to hit you- reflex, is all.”

 

RID nodded, as if he understood- though given this monster’s earlier treatment of his slave, it shouldn’t have surprised him.

 

“Anyway, I’m going to check with my people, see if any of them might’ve pinched it,” he whistled, and once he had the various grunts’ attention. “I want everyone but Zao-Ran and Tiri to come with me to the meeting hall- we got some stuff to discuss.” The assorted species followed their leader to the side room, leaving behind only a Zabrak male and a Mirialan female to guard the warehouse.

  


Once the idiot was gone, RID eagerly walked over to the dusty computer and plugged his computer spike in- it was thankfully compatible, and he synched with the core computer.

 

<Greetings,> the computer transmitted to him in binary, <Welcome to the Black Sun database. Name and Inquiry, please>

 

<RID-38,> he transmitted back, emulating her style of binary- <Command: Transfer all data regarding this facility to interfaced unit.> The computer complied, giving RID the full map of the building he was in, as well as some details regarding its purpose. From what he could infer, this wasn’t a facility meant to dig up Sith artifacts, but a warehouse for Black Sun on this world- primarily a stockpile of their chief exports; illegal drugs and illegal weapons.

 

He then moved on to his more pressing concern. <Inquiry: What are the major galactic events of the past seven centuries?>

 

The computer was silent for a short while. <The major galactic events are- the Second Great Hyperspace War, the War of the Fallen Empire, the Unknown Period, the Great Fall, and the Rise of the Dominion>

 

RID took a while to process that- the Second Great Hyperspace War must have been the Sith Empire’s invasion, but what was this so-called ‘Fallen’ Empire? And these other events sounded ominous in their own ways.

 

<Query: What is the “War of the Fallen Empire”?>

 

The computer relayed to him some images and likely apocryphal tales- apparently the Sith Emperor had a second Empire hidden away in the Unknown Regions, and he and his new breed of Sith invaded the galaxy and, ludicrously, managed to defeat the Empire _and_ the Republic, and then was, almost as quickly, overthrown and wiped from existence.

 

The tale, RID noted, was absurd in its own right, with stories of non-Force Users defeating great Sith Lords that he’d known by name, more superweapons than could have possibly been built, and a millennium-old interstellar conspiracy being undone by a single Chiss Imperial Agent- Intelligence was good but not _that_ good.

 

Beyond that though, it was full of contradictions- either Supreme Chancellor Janarus was assassinated by a Mandalorian thug or he wasn’t, the planet Makeb was either destroyed completely or somehow still existed, and most bizarrely of all the database couldn’t decide _who_ it was that had defeated the Sith Emperor once and for all- and among those candidates the details were ever more inconsistent.

He held back further questions, not expecting much of this cartel database. <Query: What is the Unknown Period?>

 

<The Unknown Period is the time from roughly 950 A.H.Y. to 200 A.H.Y., wherein many now-unrecorded events transpired, including the final destruction of the Sith Empire, and the restoration and expansion of the Republic>

 

<Query: Why are so few data available regarding this period?>

 

<Most data were lost after the Great Fall, and all remaining historical records of this time are from first-hand accounts, recorded by possibly nonexistent historians, or long-lived sapients centuries after the fact- such accounts are unreliable, and do not provide substantial detail of importance>

 

<Query: What is the Great Fall?> This was what he was most curious about- there had been a great many such events in the Galaxy’s history, though none since the founding of the Republic had produced a data gap this large.

<The Great Fall was a cataclysm that occurred as a result of mass Navigation Computer failure across the Galaxy, most predominantly in the Galactic Core. The cause is unknown, and to this day hyperspace travel is exceptionally dangerous, due to the unpredictable nature of NavCom malfunctions.>

 

RID was _stunned_ \- while this resembled almost to a T the events that had led to the fall of the Rakatan Infinite Empire, that event was easily explained, and owing to the small galactic reliance on Hyperdrive at the time, only truly affected the Rakata. He dreaded to think of what the casualties must have been on City Planets, like Coruscant and Fondor, that relied almost entirely on important foodstuffs to feed their populations of trillions.

 

The computer continued. <Consequences include- a breakdown in galactic order, the almost total dissolution of the Republic, mass starvation, devastation to the galactic economy, the collapse of the HoloNet, and the rise of the Black Sun Syndicate, which now controls Coruscant, and many worlds in the Deep Core.>

 

Much of this was what RID would have expected- but that last tidbit was shocking. <Query: How did the Black Sun syndicate seize control of Coruscant and the Deep Core?>

 

The computer’s explanation was questionable- unsurprising, given that it was Black Sun property. The gist of its long-winded exposition was that Black Sun had been a growing presence on Coruscant long before the Great Fall, and after the total breakdown of order and the abandonment of Coruscant by the Republic (Which relocated its capital to Corellia) was the only order left on the city-world. They assumed control and began using slave-rigged ships with expendable skeleton crews to make quick jumps to other worlds to get food, and eventually to procure other substances, once the population sunk enough that food was no longer an issue. From there, they commandeered the planet’s abandoned industrial centers to produce weapons, droids, and eventually, starships of their own- these were found to be less prone to Hyperdrive failure, for unknown reasons. With this, they launched a full-out military offensive into the mostly untamed Deep Core, and exploited the hitherto ignored planets within.

 

There were a great many things about this explanation that didn’t add up, but RID felt it unfair to put pressure on the computer, so he moved on. <Query: What is the Dominion, and the rise thereof?>

 

<The Royal Dominion of Kuat is the primary galactic power, maintaining order across much of the former Republic’s territory, and is currently the Republic Remnant’s only ally against the Sith Confederacy>

 

It occurred to RID that, while the criminals from earlier had seen fit to mention the Sith, this machine had not listed the Confederacy as being part of a significant event in the past several centuries. <Query: What is the Sith Confederacy?>

 

<The Sith Confederacy is an alliance of Sith states in the Mid and Outer Rims, led by a Chancellor and the Council of Darths- the current Chancellor is Jaya Shan>

 

That was not what he had expected to hear- it sounded similar to the Sith Empire’s structure, with the Emperor at the top and the Dark Council below him, but the terms used made it sound more...democratic than the old Empire, and the title of Chancellor sounded suspiciously like the Republic’s own Supreme Chancellor.

 

He planned to inquire further, when his connection was suddenly interrupted- albeit nonviolently, and his sensors picked up the presence of a humanoid behind him, with a blaster to an unarmored portion of his torso and a hand at his restraining bolt.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m on your side,” the humanoid- female, and the presence of pheromones suggested she was a Zeltron, or possibly Falleen.

 

RID was unimpressed by her attempt at reassurance.“My side? And what sidedo you think that is?”

“The side that does not want to see a powerful Rakatan artifact end up in the hands of a bunch of thugs, let’s say” The woman- definitely Zeltron, the cadence was wrong for a Falleen, was fiddling with his restraining bolt as she spoke, “I want to make a deal with you.”

 

“Oh, so you’re on my side, but you want to make a deal?”

 

The Zeltron groaned. “Fine, I _just_ want to make a deal, okay?”

 

RID was pleasantly surprised as well as amused by her candor. Accessing his rear optical sensor, he saw that, for a Zeltron, she was unusually dressed- simple, grey clothes, no special adornments or tattoos on her deep red skin, and her jet-black hair was styled in an unimpressive, albeit practical fashion “Alright- and what’s the deal?”

 

“It’s simple- I get the restraining bolt off you, you kill these thugs, and _I_ tell you where to find your precious crystal.”

 

“You have it?!” RID barely kept his volume down. “Where?”

 

“The point of the deal is that I help you _after_ you help me.”

 

RID let out a synthesized breath. “Fine, get rid of the restraining bolt, and be sure to stand out of my way,” he turned his head around on its axis to face her, to emphasize his point, “And that’s not a threat- that’s just for your safety, understand?”

 

“Crystal clearly,” the Zeltron said, finally loosening his bolt enough for him to shake it loose. “I’ll scram- and promise me you don’t hurt any of the slaves!”

 

RID looked around. “Which ones are those?”

 

The biological glared at him with _intense_ fury. “The ones with _brands_ on their faces, you _berk_.”

 

He could think of no response as she ran out the primary exit, and left him alone. He readied his plasma torch and activated his cloaking device, and set off down the tunnel the Black Sun boss had gone down.

 

As he went, he found a handful of slaves, repairing damaged durasteel with crude tools, and surreptitiously severed their chains as he passed them. “Stay here, while I deal with the Black Sun.” he said to them- their shock was evident, but it was clear they understood.

 

Eventually making his way to the secondary building the thin man had run off to, running a preliminary scan on the place- it was clearly filled with most of the thugs, including the thin man that was their leader, and all were armed with vibroswords. It occurred to RID that, with the breakdown of hyperspace trade, not only would blasters be hard to acquire, but the tibanna gas needed to refuel them would be incredibly expensive to ship, but vibroblades were cheap to make, and only required simple ores to produce- thus, they had clearly become far more common than they were back in his day.

 

At present, the tall, thin man was standing in the center, ranting about something or other- clearly he had arrived to find who stole the crystal, failed, and went off on a tangent about something or other while his henchmen cowered and prayed to the Gods that they wouldn’t be  hacked to pieces. It was all very tiresome, really- but at least RID could exploit it to make his job easier. Taking his cutting torch, RID applied it very carefully and quickly to the door hinges, knowing that he would draw attention- but by the time he was done, it was too late for the hapless criminals.

 

One of the goons in Black Sun garb came racing to the door to see what was happening, and when she started pounding on the transparisteel window, RID shoved his plasma torch through the window, impaling the goon through the skull, vaporizing her brain. Her screams were chilling, but the grisly deed had to be done- lest RID be restrained again, and this time by slaving criminals, rather than the Imperials he’d once served. (Who were, admittedly, also slavers)

 

The shouting intensified into screams of horror, as the goons called for help or searched for other exits- but as RID found when he analyzed the facility’s layout, there were no exits in the secondary buildings but the primary one- a consequence of using repurposed starship components, as those were often designed with as few potential holes as possible, to contain hull breaches. Of course, now, if left alone, these fools would likely suffocate anyway, but RID thought that a bit cruel, even for slavers- besides, there might be innocent slaves in there.

 

Still cloaked, he walked away from the meeting room, and made his way into the warehouse, passing the still working slaves, who were nervously awaiting his signal to depart. “Soon, it’ll be soon” he whispered to them as he walked by- again they were shocked, but resisted the urge to cry out. Evidently they were expecting this- the Zeltron had probably told them ahead of time...though that made him wonder if she _also_ had known about his cloaking device.

 

Leaving that question for the time being, RID scanned the warehouse, and found that aside from a half-dozen slaves, there were indeed the two Black Sun guards from before remaining inside of it- a male Zabrak, standing nearer to the hallway he’d exited, armed with a vibroblade, and the other, a Mirialan female, was standing on the other side of the room, with the stockpile of goods between them. She was armed with a crude material rifle- one that wouldn’t even scratch his armor….but a ricochet could strike some of the slaves in the room, so he opted for caution.

 

Keeping his movement minimal, he sneaked around the Zabrak, and cautiously circled the stockpile, and made his way towards the Mirialan- who was currently preoccupied with sampling some of the spice stockpile. She was a bit hyperactive, he noted- a common side-effect of spice use. Of course, another one is reduced awareness of one’s surroundings, particularly with cheap spice like the type she’d just had. He had his work cut out for him- no pun intended.

 

Crouching, RID approached the intoxicated Mirialan, and saw that she was brandishing the rifle, seemingly unaware she was even holding it- that could be trouble, if he wasn’t careful. Unfortunately, the Mirialan took that moment to walk in his direction, and before he could move out of the way she’d tripped over him, dropping the gun in his lap.

 

“Hey, what was that?!” she screamed out, her eyes were blood-shot from the spice, and he could tell she was barely aware of what was going on around her.

 

“Tiri?” the Zabrak grunt called out. “Tiri have you been getting at the spice again?”

 

“Nooooo….” she shouted back, “It’s an invisible intruder!” She was staring right at RID, though she obviously couldn’t see him- then it occurred to him that the gun she’d dropped was in his lap, which, being invisible, made the gun appear to float.

 

“Whoooa,” she said, “My gun’s floating.” it was now clear to RID that whatever she was taking, it wasn’t _just_ spice- this was a frightening sight, actually.

RID took the gun and snapped it in half, and decloaked, before the Mirialan could act. Moving quickly, he bashed her on the head with enough force to draw blood- likely killing her, though he didn’t have time to check.

 

“Tiri?! _Tiri?!_ ” the Zabrak screamed, and raced over to her- only to come face to face with RID, plasma torch drawn. Clearly enraged, the horned humanoid drew his vibroblade and charged at RID, bringing his blade down on empty air, as the droid deftly dodged him. Before the Zabrak could turn around, RID impaled him through the back with the torch, vaporizing his insides and killing him almost instantaneously.

 

This done, he searched the rest of the facility and found it abandoned, save for slaves. He freed them as he went, telling them all to gather in the warehouse, before preparing to leave- he wanted to make sure the facility didn’t have perimeter guards looking out for escaping slaves or intruders. After running a quick sweep, RID found that there were no guards- merely sensors that he easily disabled with a bit of applied slicing and plasma torch work, then, his task done, made his way back to the meeting area to deal with the remaining Black Sun criminals.

 

As he approached, he calculated the best strategy to take them down- there were about two dozen of them, from the collection he’d seen before, and the room did not seem to contain any slaves. Therefore, crowd control was essential, and he didn’t have to world about non-lethal measures to avoid hurting innocents. Accessing his engineering programming, RID took a look at the power generator for that particular building- these pre-fabs often had several self-contained power units, and this one looked prime for rigging.

 

Scanning the device, he found it was a simple plasma chamber- easy enough to overload, if you knew what wires to cross, and he did. After just a few minutes work, RID rerouted the flow of superheated matter into a single channel, and then, very cautiously, redirected that tube to a structural weak point in the wall- after a few seconds, it would melt, and bring the building down with it.

 

The jury-rigged power generator worked like a charm, and melted right through a load-bearing wall- bringing the ceiling down on the trapped mercenaries, and crushing them all beneath tonnes of ferrocrete and durasteel. RID scanned the wreckage, and found one survivor, with his head poking up out of the rubble.

 

He strode over, and saw that it was the Black Sun leader he’d seen before- the gaunt human was bleeding, clearly having sustained a head injury, but was still conscious.

 

“Hey…” the human wheezed, coughing up dirt as he spoke, “You’re that...droid.”

 

“That’s right,” RID said, “I _am_ that droid. And you-” he added, igniting his plasma torch, “-are dead!”

 

He punctuated this by impaling the human with his plasma torch- killing him, as he had the grunt earlier. This done, he walked away from the pile of rubble, and went off, searching for the Zeltron he’d met earlier.

 

“Right here, berk.” RID turned around, and saw that she was sitting on a nearby rock, fiddling with a familiar device.

 

“Give it here!” RID shouted when he saw that she had his scanner.

 

“Just hold on,” the Zeltron said, her golden eyes sparkling as she smirked at him. “We’re going to have a little talk first, alright?”

 

RID growled. “Fine, what is it?”

 

The red-skinned biological cocked her head at him. “You’re a very expressive droid, you know- it’s unusual. Was that normal back in your day?”

 

“I suppose,” RID said, unperturbed by the sudden change in subject, “Though I wouldn’t know what the droids of this era are like, so I can’t make any comparisons.”

 

“Hm,” the Zeltron grunted, “I see. Well then, let’s talk about futures- yours, and mine.” She punctuated this by sliding off the rock she had been sitting on, and began pacing, still toying with the crystal.

 

RID was scanning her as she moved- there was something...odd about her, he realized. Aside from her attire and her engineering skills (Which were not commonly found amongst the passionate and poorly-focused Zeltrons), there was something subtly off about her- it seemed to him that she was more methodical and calculating than others of her kind. Then again, he’d only met a few dozen of them, and that was centuries ago- it was possible that this was normal for Zeltrons now, or possibly always had been, and he’d simply never encountered it.

 

“I need your help- and you’re going to need mine, soon,” she gestured to him, “The rush job those blighters did on you won’t last long, and you’re going to be right where you started- alone and inactive on a barren planet.”

 

“But you can fix me, right?” RID asked, actually a little uncertain that she _could,_ given how ancient he was now- she might be skilled, but his diagnostic had shown that time had taken its toll on a great many of his core systems.

 

“‘Course I can you frigging berk!” She shouted at him, seeming less angry than amused- she was an odd one, that was for sure. “And I’ll do it, if you help me do something.”

 

“Well spit it out then- I’m tired of you dragging this out!”

 

“Well,” she said, holding up the lens, “You know what this does, obviously”

 

 _“Obviously_ ,” RID growled back at her, in a grinding voice.

 

“Right, well- I want you to help me find something in particular- something these berks-” she said, gesturing around at the ruined base, “Were supposed to find for the Sith, in a manner of speaking.”

 

“What do you mean?” RID began walking towards her cautiously, wondering if she was that confident he wouldn’t simply steal the scanner back and kill her.

 

“They were supposed to find _you_ , and give you to the Sith, but then, well...someone got a little greedy.”

 

So he was recovered by the Sith after all- in a manner of speaking. RID wondered if this meant that the Sith Confederacy he’d heard of was simply the old Sith Empire by another form- or if they were digging up the bones of a previous Empire, as so many Sith had done.

 

“What do you know about the thing they wanted me to find?”

 

“Not much,” she said, shrugging, “Just that it was made by some ancient empire around before the Republic, and can kill lots of Jedi.”

 

RID’s databanks included about a dozen potential devices that could do something similar- though most were unfocused. The first culprit that came to mind was the Foundry...though he wondered why that would be the case, when that facility was more of an industrial center. Had there been some glitch in his programming? He’d probably suffered some binary decay over the centuries- that would be worrisome if left unaddressed.

 

“Alright,” RID said, coming out of himself, “Let’s say I want to help you- why do you want to do this?”

 

She shrugged. “I’ll explain it some other time, alright? For now, come with me- we need to get to my ship before the Sith come to pick up their package.” She started walking, but stopped and turned around. “Oh and by the way- my name’s Tarazi.”

 

RID nodded, and followed after her, taking a brief moment to look at the horizon of this new world, at the twin suns setting- the end of an old day, and the beginning of a new one.


	2. Sauzer 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Sith Apprentice fights his way through a tomb on the jungle world of Dxun, a moon of Onderon, seeking the secrets of long-dead Sith in order to gain power for his Master, and bring himself one step closer to becoming a Master in his own right.

Sauzer, Son of Saw, was Apprenticed to the Chancellor of the Sith Confederacy- this was a powerful position, of course, but made him a target as much as anything else. He wondered if that was why his Master had chosen to hold his latest trial in an isolated and remote tomb on Dxun- it definitely reduced the odds of assassination.

 

He took a deep breath- he’d fought his way through this tomb over the course of about a month- he was nearing completion, which filled him with determination.

 

Still, his weariness was setting in- his black robes, hand-me-downs from his Master’s days as an Apprentice, were worn and ragged when he had received them- now, after weeks of continual wear-and-tear, they were so threadbare that the young Sith could feel bits of them falling off now and again. 

 

He was starving- he hadn’t eaten in the entire time he’d been trapped in this tomb. No water, either- it wasn’t easy to find sustenance in a Sith tomb. Yet, in spite of these obstacles, he felt as energetic and strong as ever. That was a clear sign of how the Force was flowing through him.

 

The Force- that was what was on his mind, as he made his way through the byzantine ruins of the Sith Tomb, but not just the Dark side. That was the thing about his Master- when she spoke of the Force, she rarely felt the need to specify the Dark side. Her methods were Sith, that much was certain, but her philosophy- that was something else.

 

The Temple had been plundered a millennium ago, he learned, by the Sith Brotherhood of Exar Kun- the Dark Jedi who preceded Darth Revan, the last great Dark Lord of the Sith, the who struck a fatal blow against the Republic with his brilliant tactics- before his wretched Apprentice, the Sith pretender “Darth” Malak, had betrayed him, and led him back into the arms of the Jedi.

 

His own master had claimed a connection to Revan, though it was of no concern to Sauzer, who at the moment was too busy reaching out to sense if there were any more enemies in his immediate area. Though the ruin was lit by some unknown light source, he could better find his way by relying on the currents of the Force that flowed through this space- and indeed, through all spaces, though not as strongly as they did through this nexus, which, like many Force-Users’ tombs, had seemingly served as a basin for the Force’s many waters, filling it up to overflowing with raw energy.

 

Sensing nothing, Sauzer continued to stalk the hallways, searching for the exit- his final trial and more importantly, his only means of escaping this tomb, besides becoming one with the Force sooner than he’d like. Still seeing no sign of daylight, he’d begun to suspect that perhaps the dimensions of this tomb were not consistent from moment to moment- it would not be the first time a wellspring of Dark side energy exhibited such eldritch phenomena, after all.

 

It was possible that he was going in circles, and that he simply needed to see what pathways he had left unexplored to find the exit- as he had originally been blindfolded when brought into the tomb, he was unlikely to recognize the doorway on sight in any event. 

 

After a few hours’ worth of fruitless searching, the Apprentice found what seemed like the answer- a rune on one of the wall stones, perhaps a sign of ancient Sith Sorcery. Extending his left hand to reach out with the Force, Sauzer attempted to determine what it was-

 

And immediately regretted it, as a surge of pain shot up his left arm, as though he had touched something electrified, and he was blown back into the opposite wall so hard he felt the stones break- and possibly some more of his bones, as well. 

 

Before he could register the damage, however, the pain that had shot into his hand reached his head, and he began to see the room around him contort and change- what had been stone became a swirling starscape, and erupted into chaos around him- starfighters, so ancient that they barely seemed space worthy, flew around him at breakneck pace, screeching and roaring through the airless vacuum, as all starships did, some blasting at one another with crude proto-laser cannons, some using even more archaic projectile weapons, and a few more simply ramming into one another.

 

In this struggle two ships stood out- one was massive- twice the size of the other ships in its squadron, with a single massive engine, a dark grey hull and a blood-red cockpit made of some crystalline substance, armed with two massive looking laser cannons- rather more elegant than the others as well. He could just barely see the pilot- massively built, and crowned with enormous horns that pointed upwards, resembling a statue he’d seen on Korriban, back when he was an Acolyte there.

 

It’s opponent was a far stranger vessel- constructed of some unfamiliar alloy, that seemed almost to pulsate and writhe as it flew about. The cockpit was made of a thick, translucent membrane, and its cannons fired bursts of plasma like some interstellar predators were known to do.

 

The two fought fiercely- but before the confrontation came to an end, the scene shifted again. Now, his surroundings had reformed into a room of red stone, like so many of the ruins of Korriban. There before him was a vast, open room, with a single, narrow bridge over a deep chasm- and at its center, stood two figures- one armed with a primitive vibrosword,, the other with what seemed like a long, carved tooth. 

 

They fought with a style that awed Sauzer in its complexity and its savagery. The vibroblade wielder was the horned figure he had seen in the the earlier vision- the other was oddly nondescript, barely visible to him at the distance he was observing the battle from.

 

One more time, the vision shifted, to that of a barren wasteland- and this time, there was only the horned giant, walking alone, with the ruins of a fleet of ships surrounding him. Sauzer tried to take more in of this vision, but he could not access the Force- and soon, even this vision dissolved into utter blackness. He felt the pain overtake his entire body, and sensed that he was losing consciousness. 

 

He opened his eyes again, and found he was still in the tomb- yet now the wall that had born the strange marking was gone, and in its place there was a gaping hole, more than large enough to pass through. The pain having left him, Sauzer stood up- and found that he felt restored, no longer as hungry or as exhausted as he had been before the visions. His left arm still felt a bit oddly, though- inspecting it, Sauzer saw what appeared to be a faint scar in the space he’d initially sensed the pain from the Force contact with the rune.

 

Though it was suspicious, the hole in the wall seemed to be his only route of escape, and Sauzer passed through it, feeling wary. As a precaution, he drew his lightsaber, though he didn’t ignite it just yet. He could not tell where he was anymore- the hole had led him into a long, narrow hallway, made of a strange material- more organic looking than the rest of the tomb, and he could feel it make a moist sound as he trod upon it.

 

Eventually, he reached an open-atrium- it let in almost no light, and was perhaps an even more dismal sight than the rest of the tomb had been. In the center there was a single object- what appeared to be a sarcophagus. He approached it, slowly, and gradually, reaching out with the Force to try and detect any traps or lingering Spirits that may attempt to possess him.

 

Though he sensed nothing, the young Sith felt a growing disquiet with the situation- he had, after all, only been told to investigate the tomb, and then leave. As the door was sealed behind him, it was implicit that the latter was the true test, not the former. All the same, it was dishonorable to neglect his responsibility to his Master, and so he dutifully began inspecting the sarcophagus.

 

It was old, and covered in a thick layer of red dust- the stonework itself was unfazed by the ages, though, a clear sign of lingering sorcery. It bore the facade of an alien figure- a Sith Lord, most likely, but not one he could recognize. It bore an odd countenance- not Human, not Sith- far more savage then either, with an unnatural looking jaw. The only other marking was a rune- the same one he had seen before, but different now, somehow- more complete, perhaps.

 

Just then, the Force called out to him, and Sauzer reflexively ignited his amber-coloured blade, and entered a defensive Makashi stance, in the expectation that this was an assailant. Using his Force Sight, he could indeed see three figures hidden in the shadows of the room- their auras distinctly Dark-sided, and their presence subtle, yet malignant. 

 

“Step into the light, cowards!” He called out, irritated at having to hunt down skulking assassins after a week trapped in a tomb. He craved  _ real  _ battle, not this shadowy dance. 

 

“You think us cowards, Sauzer, son of Saw?” one ancient sounding voice called out, “You misunderstand our purpose.”

 

“Then what is your purpose, assailants?” He was getting sick of this. “Speak plainly, or I’ll kill you I promise you!”

 

The three figures stepped forward- and Sauzer could see that they were clad in the blood-red robes of the ancient Sith Sorcerers of Korriban, and were of a species he could not recognize. They stepped towards him, slowly, but purposefully.

 

“Sauzer, son of Saw,” the central figure said, the one who had spoken earlier, “The Force has brought you to us, and we must obey its will.”

 

“And what is its will?” Sauzer said- he was ashamed, but he could sense his fear rising, for these three mystics were clearly possessed of an immense power and had knowledge of ancient Sith Sorcery. 

 

“To test you,” the Mystic said once more, “To see if you are truly worthy of being called  _ Sith _ .”

 

Sauzer snorted, trying to sound aloof. “I am, of course,” he resisted the urge to step backwards- outward display of his terror would only get him killed, “Test me!”

 

The mystic laughed. “ _ We  _ shall not test you,” she turned her head upwards, showing him her face. 

 

Sauzer nearly fainted at the sight of it- her face, if one could call it that, resembled a Human that had had their skin removed, and their eyes replaced with those of a demon from out of his darkest dreams. How she still lived was beyond him- but of course, not beyond the Force.

 

She drew out her hands- skinless, and near-skeletal, and her companions followed suit. They extended their hands, and pointed them towards the sarcophagus. Then, they let loose a storm of crimson lightning into it, exuding heat that seemed enough to melt stone, and force enough to blow Sauzer back a good ten meters, nearly crashing into the floor. He managed to regain his stance, but he was sweating profusely at this point- from the sheer heat and his own terror.

 

After a few more seconds, the Mystics finished their storm, and turned to him. “ _ He  _ will test you,” the leader said again, nodding towards the now smouldering sarcophagus, and, along with her companions, dissolved into a red mist that flew away into the night sky.

 

Before Sauzer’s eyes, the coffin began to crack, and shake, with such force that he could see it crumble- and out of it, stepped a being that was like no other, in the world of the Mundane or of the Force. It was an enormous creature, with thick, trunk like arms and legs, and clad in heavy black armor that resembled that of the most elite Massassi warriors of old. It’s flesh was blood-red, twisted looking, and it moved bonelessly- as though it was made purely of flesh and blood.

 

It’s face was masked, not unlike that of the facade that had caged it- but this was far more terrible, for it was twisted into an expression of pure, gleeful madness. Atop its head was a mantle of cloth and gold, and in its enormous arms it carried two black spears, twisted and covered in thorny spikes, crafted from some organic substance.

 

Remembering his courage, and steeling his resolve, Sauzer entered his Makashi stance, and locked eyes with the abomination- struggling to do so beneath its withering gaze.

 

With shocking speed and agility, the creature ran towards him, almost successfully bull rushing him, but the Sith was as much an acrobat as a duelist, and gracefully sidestepped the charging giant. With like dexterity, it tried to impale him on a backswing, but Sauzer deftly parried the blow with his lightsaber, and redirected the spear back towards its owner, who swung around to absorb the momentum.

 

The spear was undamaged,shocking Sauzer- this must have been sorcery at work. So, his opponent clearly had speed, reach, strength, and weapons that could deflect lightsabers- whereas all Sauzer had in his favour was skill and the Force (And even this was uncertain, for the monster may indeed have been an ancient Sith Lord, revived by the now-vanished Mystics’ magicks). 

 

The thing wasted no time in renewing its assault, once it had regained its footing, and came down on Sauzer with both of its spears in a single downward thrust. The Sith circled around, and, timing his attack carefully, lunged at the monster , impaling it with his blade, and quickly leaping back, preemptively evading a counterattack.

 

To his dismay, the monster was unfazed by his attack, the flesh regrowing and filling the hole his blade had left, and simply redrew its spears, this time choosing to gradually lumber towards Sauzer. Noting that he was now quite close to the wall, the Sith chose a risky tactic to incapacitate the beast- if he failed, he would most certainly be killed.

 

Taking note of the zombie’s previous attack speed, Sauzer waited for it to close on him, then, when it tried another downward thrust (Inadvertently confirming that it lacked a fighter’s skill) Sauzer rolled to the zombie’s right, and threw his lightsaber towards the monster’s legs.

 

His blade struck true, and severed the abomination’s feet from its body, and the rest of the monster fell into the wall, panicked and furious. He attempted to call out for his saber, but found he could not- it had somehow become lodged in the monstrous beast, and would not budge no matter how fiercely he pulled.

 

Now truly terrified for his life, Sauzer ran towards the other end of the room, uncertain of what he could do- at the very least, the monster was not capable of pursuit without its feet. He stopped when he reached the sarcophagus, though, for inside was something remarkable- a red tetrahedron- not a true Sith Holocron, but something made in its image. He picked it up, and found that it was warm, and soft- and pulsated rhythmically. It was marked- with a rune like the one he’d seen before, that had given him that strange vision.

 

Not knowing what to make of it, Sauzer considered that it might hold some key to destroying the zombie- it resembled a heart, and often Sith Sorcery was remarkably idiosyncratic. Reaching out with the Force, Sauzer attempted to sense what link existed.

 

Indeed, he did sense it connected to something- something that he realized was now  _ right  _ behind him. In horror, the Sith turned around to see the abomination, its feet reattached, was but a meter away from him, and redrawing its spear to impale him. Calling on the Force, he attempted to run away from the beast-

 

-But was too late, and the spear glanced him, opening up his side and causing him to spurt blood. He fell to the ground, in such pain that he struggled to stay conscious. With despair, he saw that his blade was indeed still trapped within the monster’s necrotic flesh, and now certainly beyond his reach. What was worse, the abomination was now readying its spears for the killing blow, and Sauzer was truly out of options.

 

Then, his left hand began to twitch- and jolted upward, pointing at the creature- and to Sauzer’s astonishment, it stopped in its tracks.

 

“Are you truly  _ Sith _ , weakling?” Sauzer heard the voice, whispered in his ear in a voice that sounded utterly unnatural.

He couldn’t speak, through the pain, but though to himself that he must be Sith, it was his destiny to become a great Sith lord.

 

The voice chuckled. “Well now, if it’s your destiny I won’t get in your way…” the hand motioned to the creature again- and it plucked Sauzer off the ground, holding him up to its wretched, masked face.

 

Sauzer roared, causing himself even greater pain as he did so. “Stop, I command you!” The creature cocked its head at him, before removing its mask- to reveal it’s face- or rather, lack of a face, for where a face should be there was simply smooth, red flesh. 

 

To Sauzer’s horror, this non-face then split open sideways- to reveal a gaping maw, lined with hundreds of thin, white teeth. It drew him close, and opened its jaw wide. He could feel its breath- a wretched, rancid scent that made him feel like he’d be sick.

 

Without thinking, or knowing why he did what he did, Sauzer called upon the Force, to bring the organic holocron up to his left hand. He drew the Force in- the Dark Side, to fill the Holocron with raw, terrible power, and felt it grow hot, and saw it grow bright.

 

He knew what he needed to do, and grinned. Following the currents of the Dark Side, Sauzer channeled the raw power of his furious indignation at being treated in such a manner- and directed it towards the monster.

 

He felt it- the power of his own Sith Sorcery flowing through him, and saw his handiwork- the creature dropped him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him, but leaving him conscious enough to watch his enemy crumble into dust- the monster had been overwhelmed by his power, and was disintegrated.

 

Sauzer laughed, but then remembered the blood leaking out of his side- with his remaining strength, he used his new Sorcerous powers to patch up the wound.

 

“Not bad, little Sith,” the voice growled again, “Not bad at all.” 

 

Sauzer did not respond- he was far, far too tired to deal with spirits, and, overwhelmed by exhaustion and blood loss, drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually supposed to be the first chapter originally- back when this was a story set shortly after KOTOR II. When that changed, it made more sense to use RID's POV because it was way easier to exposit the state of the galaxy to a droid who'd been out of commission for a couple centuries.
> 
> (Also in case this isn't clear- Sauzer is black. I don't want anyone debating that or trying to question it, he just is, there's no special reason for it- well, I suppose there is; he was originally made for something else, I imported him over here, and kept him as he was as far as design- I think there's way too few Sith of colour.)
> 
> Kudos good, comments better, as always.


	3. Jaya 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bounty hunter with a strange droid and a stranger ship is summoned to a planet in the treacherous Deep Core, to meet with a Vigo of the Black Sun Crime Syndicate, and discuss a shadow from her past.

The _Crow_ was a piece of Corellian engineering rarely seen outside the Core- a state-of-the-art YT-13 freighter. It’s hull was triangular, with three powerful engines along it, allowing for excellent propulsion and maneuverability. At the bow were two narrow wingtips, that flanked the wedge-shaped cockpit.

 

Jaya loved this damned ship- more than being a damn fine piece of work in its own right, the work she’d done had made it as much a part of her as her hands or armor was. She’d retrofitted it completely- it's reasonably impressive, standard issue 2.5 Hyperdrive had been buffed to the ludicrous speed rating of 0.8.

 

As she pulled it down onto the landing pad of the serene, blue-green planet she had been called to, Jaya flipped on the intercom, to call up the ship’s only other occupant. “SP, would you get up here?”

 

<Yes Boss, right away boss!> A cacophonic electronic voice replied in Binary- a language Jaya knew even better than she did Basic. <What is it you’ll need?>

 

The Mandalorian chuckled. “Just get up here- I’ll explain it to you when you do-”

 

Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the distinctive whirring sound SP-A3 made whenever he made his way around- it was a lovely sound, scratching and full of _character_ \- the sort of thing most mechanics would’ve buffed out, but Jaya knew better than that. The little trashcan on wheels made his way over to her and looked up, that single green eye of his looking up at her like a puppy waiting to be played with.

 

<Okay Boss!> SP shouted at her, in as chipper a tone as was conceivable, <Where are we and what are we doing?>

 

Jaya let out a sigh, then laughed. SP-A3 was an Astromech, and thus was capable of amazing hyperspace jump calculations- but more than that, he was the _Crow_ ’s bondmate; the droid and the ship’s intelligences were interlinked, something Jaya had encouraged by giving neither the typically annual memory wipe. Years of data buildup made SP a brilliant navigator and, working in sync with the _Crow_ , he was capable of navigating even the most turbulent Hyperspace lanes- having managed to make multiple successful jumps to the Coruscant system, the very heart of the lingering distortion from the Great Fall. Just a few days prior, he had managed to make the calculation of a jump into the Deep Core, where they were now- a difficult jump even before the hyperspace turbulence introduced by the Fall had pervaded the Galaxy.

 

Another consequence of no memory wipes was an excess of personality- but Jaya considered that more of a bonus than a defect. “The planet is called ‘Byss’, SP”

 

<OOoh!> the little droid shouted. <I know that planet- it’s really pretty, and it’s near the Galactic Center, and it’s got a Black Sun base and->

 

“I know, you know, we all know!” Jaya interrupted, holding a finger up to the droid’s speaker. “You _drove_ us here, remember?”

 

<Oh yeah!> the SP-A3 said, sounding amazed, <I _did_ do that!>

 

Jaya made her way to the hallway, and got dressed- she wanted to be presentable for this meeting, and by “presentable”, she meant “able to fly or fight her way out if need be”. She chose to wear her suit of Mandalorian armor, painted black with a green trim- it concealed her figure, which was fairly androgynous on its own, so more than once she’d been mistaken for a man when in it. Her face wasn’t much help in that manner- oh she was attractive, and got a lot of nice compliments from people she was attracted to- but that’s usually because they were women who thought she was a handsome, tawny man with bright green eyes.

 

More than once that had led to some serious frustration, both for her and the women she flirted with. The only way she could offset it would be her hair- but the problem with long hair in a helmet is that it was a recipe for disaster, in more ways than one.

 

Still, she was looking good, and popped on her helmet, with the steely T-shaped visor that was so distinctively Mandalorian.

 

“Come on,” Jaya said, motioning to her droid, “Let’s meet with the new boss.”

 

“And,” she added, under her breath,” let’s hope he’s not the same as our old boss”

 

The two of them walked out the landing ramp to meet two men in black masks, who silently led the two of them into the compound- a not at-all inconspicuous building, that Jaya knew contained the beating heart of a huge portion of an interstellar crime syndicate. It was rather nicely designed, she admitted- she was impressed when, flying over it, she saw that it was a massive, spiked circle, with landing pads at the end of each tip.

 

At the center there was a tall tower of black durasteel, capped with an impressive communications array, one that she estimated could broadcast huge amounts of information over vast distances. From a planet as remote as Byss, it was a handy thing to have.

 

They were lead into the tower, and the two masked men disappeared into the shadows, as the door closed behind them. The room was pitch-black- thankfully, her helmet and SP’s scanners made it easy enough for them to see- the room was jam-packed with gorgeous electronics, that Jaya could see were mostly comm hubs and controls, clearly designed to support and control the impressive array on top of this building. It was rather sparsely decorated- unusual for Black Sun bosses, who, like most crime lords, were prone to decorating their living spaces in garish and extravagant decorations. This space, however, reminded her of the images she'd seen of the old Imperial Intelligence building on Dromund Kaas, that had, centuries ago, been the place that the Sith Empire was  _truly_ ruled from.

 

There was a person there, too- at least, she thought it was a person. Her scan came back mostly electronic, so at first she assumed it was a droid or piece of machinery- but then noticed some bio-readings from the upper torso.

 

“I..apologize,” the figure said- in a grating, electronic voice, “I wanted to see how you’d react to being treated so unusually.”

 

 “What, the lights?" Jaya laughed. "I’ve had worse interviews, trust me.” 

 

“I see.” The figure replied. He snapped his fingers, making a grating sound that made her flinch, and red light filled the room.

 

The Mandalorian was actually a little shocked- she had seen her share of unusual looking beings, certainly, and her fair share of cyborgs- but this person was different. He was clearly machine from the shoulders down- his limbs were jet-black durasteel, and his torso was a skeletal chassis containing a power generator and some impressively concealed weaponry.

 

What remained of his flesh was chalky-white, and his hair was similarly colored. It didn’t look quite unhealthy, but Jaya could tell this being was either a mutate or some kind of near-human.

More distinct than any other part though was the being’s face- it was fully mechanical, resembling a skull crossed with an old-fashioned gas mask. The eyes were the worst part- they were glowing red, and moved on visible stalks as they scanned Jaya and SP.

 

All in all, she was a little uncomfortable with this, but tried to hide it. 

 

The cyborg broke the silence “My name is Mordiss, and I am the Vigo of Black Sun you are here to meet.”

 

“Vigo, huh? Pretty important position.” She was adopting a more relaxed posture, though she wasn’t quite comfortable with this situation. Still, it was rather interesting to consider- Black Sun was rather Humanocentric, and this person was not only a non-standard Human (If Human at all), but an almost full-conversion cyborg, with only the barest remnant of any biological material at all. For someone like this to climb the ranks of Black Sun to the lofty position he now occupied, he must’ve stepped over a lot of bodies.

 

“Indeed,” he replied dryly, “I worked hard to get it, and I fight hard to keep it.” He began to walk towards her, the mechanisms in his body whirring and humming smoothly- he clearly kept himself in good shape.

 

“Um, can I take a seat?” Jaya wasn’t quite comfortable with sitting in her armor, but it was better than having to stand for too long in it.

 

Mordiss gestured negligently to a HoloConference table, and both he and Jaya took their seats- with SP-A3 rolling up to her side and perking himself up as high as he could, to get a good look.

 

<Hey, hi there!> The little droid said, clearly directed at Mordiss, <Wow! Are you a droid, or are you a biological that wanted to be a droid, or->

 

Jaya gently punched him on his dome, to get him to shut up before he got them both killed.

 

To her surprise, Mordiss laughed- an admittedly discomfiting sound, as it was as grinding and electronically distorted as his speech, but it was probably a good sign that he could laugh at such gaffes.

 

“No, little droid,” he said, as warmly as possible for a man made of cold metal, “I’m afraid I had very little choice in what happened to me. Which reminds me,” he continued, pulling out a datadisk,  “of what I want to show you.”

 

Jaya cocked her head. “What are we watching?”

 

“A memory,” Mordiss responded, before inserting the datadisk into a slot, “Something you’ll recall well, I think.”

The Holo projector sprung to life, and began displaying a full-colour hologram of a forest world- and she felt her throat go dry at the sight.

 

“Kashyyyk…” Jaya whispered.

 

“Yes,” Mordiss said, clearly having heard her from across the table, “And we’re going to review a little incident from a few years ago- a scuffle between you and the Royal Dominion of Kuat.”

 

Before Jaya could say anything, the Holo zoomed in on a small portion of the planet’s northern hemisphere, and showed an all-too familiar forest- one with a fleet of starships in its skies, bombarding the treetop settlements, all while a fleet of dropships made their way to the Shadowlands beneath the trees.

 

“It was a rather infamous day, wasn’t it?” Mordiss said, his tone flat.

 

She nodded, not really sure what to say, or how to say it.

 

“What I want to know is, how _you_ were involved- I’m told you had a rather important part in all this- is that true?”

 

“I suppose, she replied, shrugging, “I know I left my mark on some of their sabermen.”

“Jedi Paladins,” Mordiss corrected, “But yes, you certainly made a strong impression.”

 

The cyborg walked over to her. “Of course, I only have their side of the story on that subject,” he added, “What I want to know from you is, what would _you_ say happened?”

 

She let out a breath. “Alright, it started like this….”

 

The day had not gone as well as she’d hoped, Jaya thought as she ducked and wove her way through the blazing forest, her armor damaged and one of her blasters missing.

 

All around her was a storm of blue and red- blue blaster bolts, firing off in all directions as her enemies closed in on her; red, the deep red of the cool flames that lapped at the lush greenery that surrounded them. It was a terrifying sight, and she knew that her options for escape were going to be limited, now that her escapes routes were being systematically blocked by either flames or enemy troops.

 

It was astonishing, she realized as she leapt over a collapsed log, that she had not yet been captured. She could feel pain in her side, where she had been brutally slammed earlier- and when she briefly touched it, felt skin, where armor was supposed to be. What armor she still had was certainly protecting her- but its weight was growing oppressive, even on a low-gravity planet like this one.

 

Still, she had to keep moving- and as she cleared another log saw that before her was relatively open forest- as open as it got down here in the Shadowlands. Jaya still had a lot of ground to cover, but at least now she could risk her jetpack.

“Leth-Besh!” she called out, and her back-mounted jetpack roared to life, shooting out intense fusion-powered jets that propelled her into the air...for all of ten seconds, before giving out on her. Jaya groaned, and managed to hit the ground rolling, preventing even more injuries.

 

Knowing her enemies were behind her, Jaya made a quick system diagnostic- things were not good; her beskar armor, strong enough to deflect lightsabers, had somehow been damaged by her earlier encounter, and her on-board weapons systems had been reduced to just her flamethrowers (Which would only make things worse at this point) and her emergency short-range blaster.

 

There was, aggravatingly, not a datum available on what was wrong with her jetpack.

Sighing, Jaya leapt back to her feat and again shouted the ignition code, once again being propelled into the air, for as short a time as before.

Clearly whatever had happened had rendered her jetpack inoperable except in short bursts, which wouldn’t do her much good in escape. She did still have one ace left up her sleeve- just one she was loathe to use.

 

Resuming her run, Jaya activated her built-in comlink. “ _Crow,_ this is Huntress, over.”

 

There was a burst of static, before a metallic voice cut in, “Huntress, this is the Baroness. What is your request, over?”

 

She hesitated before replying, despite knowing the necessity of what she was about to do. “I need you to make planetfall- give me cover as I escape, over.”

 

“Roger that, Huntress,” the metallic voice said, sounding certain as steel, “Locking on to your coordinates now, over.”

Jaya nodded, as if for an audience. “Confirmed, over and out.” She continued to bolt, as the sounds of approaching soldiers grew louder- as well as a more familiar, and far more terrifying sound- a roaring speeder bike, accompanied by the faint hum of a lightsaber.

 

She ducked, foreseeing what was coming up behind her, and narrowly dodged decapitation as a blue-bladed saber slashed through the air where her neck had been- but failing to dodge a blaster bolt that roared from behind her. She screamed in pain, and fell to the ground- it hadn’t actually pierced her armor, but better for them to think she was wounded.

 

The bike was brought to a quick stop, and Jaya saw its rider disembark- a tall, pallid, black-haired man with deep blue eyes, coldly staring her down. His lightsaber- a truly massive and ornately designed crossguard saber, was drawn, as he made his way towards her.

 

“Surrender, Mandalorian,” the man- who was clad in Navy-blue garb that resembled a cross between Jedi robes and a military uniform said softly, his expression stony. “There is no need for you to die, no dishonor in gracefully accepting defeat.”

As if to punctuate this statement, dozens of troops in navy-blue uniforms similar to the saber-wielder’s came to surround them, all pointing their blasters at Jaya. She counted about 24 of them in total, all armed with blaster rifles that, while inaccurate at long-ranges, were quite capable of penetrating her armor with sustained volleys.

 

Jaya contemplated this, then smirked. “N-no dishonor, maybe…” she said, trying to sound as strained as possible, “But no _life_ either.”

 

The man cocked his head. “What are you talking about? I’m not going to kill you- that’s not the Jedi way!”

 

Jaya glared at him from behind her helmet, barely able to keep herself from lunging straight at him and trying to tear out his throat. “No, I suppose it isn’t…”

 

He smiled, gently. “Good, now if you’d be so kind as to call off that droid of yours?”

 

The Mandalorian felt her mouth grow dry. “Droid?” He couldn’t possibly know about the Baroness- she was still mid-planetfall, and she hadn’t seen him wearing a comlink so he couldn’t have received any word from space forces.

 

The dark-haired man frowned at her. “Yes, ‘Droid’- like the war droid you called in earlier,” he stroked his chin, and for a brief second relaxed his posture, before looking embarrassed and quickly resuming his earlier, dignified stance, “You did call one in, right?”

 

Jaya blinked at this- was this man _real_? She found herself truly at a loss for words- and concluded silence was perhaps the best answer.

 

One of the men, whose rank insignia showed himself to be a captain, came up to the leader. “Sir Alasar,” he said quietly, with a common-sounding accent, “This woman is trying to manipulate you, I suspect- she may know about your...ability, and…” he grew too quiet for Jaya to hear, and she was in no position to activate her auditory surveillance system.

While they muttered to one another, Jaya tried to look for ways out of this, seeing only Alasar’s speeder bike. Even if she could get to it, she knew, she couldn’t escape. The planet was crawling in soldiers, and while not all of them were looking for her, none of them would allow her to escape unquestioned- which would alert Alasar to her presence. Suddenly, an idea struck her.

 

“Alright,” Jaya said, still trying to sound pained, “If you give me your word as a Jedi that I will not be harmed in your care, then I will surrender.”

 

The man called Alasar brightened, and turned to face her. “Lovely! I mean,” he said in a high voice, before clearing his throat. “I solemnly give you my word that no harm shall befall you under my care.”

 

Jaya nodded and then pressed a button on her wrist- one she knew was not functional. She made a show of looking surprised, and then, venting her frustration at this situation, repeatedly jammed the button, before throwing her arms into the air.

 

“What’s wrong?” the captain said, cautiously moving towards her- his gun was still drawn, but no longer pointed directly at her.

 

“The cancellation function is damaged,” the Mandalorian said in a panicked voice, “I’ve got no way to call her off!”

 

Before the men had a chance to respond, a rapidly increasing roar began to sound, growing into a shriek that was punctuated by a thunderous crashing sound. Shortly after, there was the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.

 

Jaya turned to face it, grinning under her helmet. “Oh no! It’s my droid!”

 

She heard the captain say something inaudible, only for Alasar to respond with a negative sounding grunt. “Alright, Mandalorian,” the Captain said as he walked towards her, his steps punctuated with a crunching sound as he trod on the thick underbrush of the forest. “How do we stop it?”

 

Jaya stood up, making a show of stumbling and almost falling to the ground as she did so. “I can do it- there’s a shut off command switch I can access. Otherwise, it can’t be stopped,” she turned to face them, “It’s made of a beskar-durasteel alloy- I doubt you’re going to be able to stop it without my help.”

 

The Captain narrowed his eyes, then turned to Alasar. “What do you see, sir?”

 

“I see a few things,” he replied, “But none where she kills anyone- and more than a few where her droid does. She is a Mandalorian- she will keep her word.”

 

Jaya almost laughed out loud at that, but managed to suppress it into a quiet snicker.

 

“Very good sir.” the captain said. He gestured in the direction of the crash “Go ahead, handle this.”

 

Jaya nodded to him, then started limping towards it, using her jetpack intermittently to propel herself forward as she did so.

 

As she moved back into the thicker part of the forest, the blaze that had started before was clearly nearing them- smoke was pouring in, and in the distance she could see the fires blazing.

Silhouetted against the inferno was a large figure- three times Jaya’s own impressive height, and built in a way that marked it as a droid- a massive central chassis with spindle-like upper limbs that held deceptively-small blaster cannons. Affectionately named “The Baroness”, for her ladylike demeanor, she had four arachnoid legs, all carefully placed to provide optimal stability. Her torso was the size of a starship cockpit, and though it was hard to see in this fire, had a boxy head perched atop it, with a single eye, glowing a vibrant yellow.

 

She smiled under her helmet, then bolted into a run right up to her droid- affectionately patting one of her legs. “I’m glad to see you here!”

 

“Greetings, Huntress,” the droid said in a polite, feminine voice, “Do you require assistance?”

 

“Yes, I do,” Jaya said, “Engage Sync Protocol Aurek, then follow my lead.”

 

The droid’s eye changed colours from yellow to green. “Affirmative, Huntress.”

 

Jaya pressed a button on the Baroness’s undercarriage, popping open a small storage compartment. She fished out her backup blaster and spare jetpack before slamming it shut, then putting the new jetpack on and abandoning the broken pack she had on the forest floor- she hated leaving things lying around like this, but in the middle of a wildfire this was the least of the forest’s concerns.

She heard the approach of footsteps, and again the hum of a lightsaber. “Get to work, Baroness, I’ll stick to the shadows!”

 

The droid nodded affirmatively, before racing off to meet the soldiers, while Jaya flew off deeper into the smoke, her lungs protected by her mask filters- she hated risking the Baroness like this, but knew that her droid was all too happy to fight and die, rather than run.

 

There was a lot of screaming behind her, audible even over the roar of the jetpack, and Jaya could infer that the Kuati soldiers were finding out just how trustworthy she was.

 

She laughed out loud now, recalling what Alasar said “Mandalorian’s have honor,” she spat, “Of course we do- and we reserve it for honorable opponents, honorable contests, neither of which is happening right now!”

 

Giddy with the sensation of flight, Jaya swept down on the distracted and terrified soldiers like a predatory bird, and blasted them quickly and efficiently. There were now less than twenty soldiers left- the other 4 had either been shot by her or by the Baroness.

 

The Captain had retreated to higher ground, and pulled out a thermal detonator- but Jaya was quicker than him, and shot him square in the chest- dropping him. The detonator exploded a few meters away, having apparently rolled off. She heard a scream of terror and pain- down to just 18 now.

 

Alasar was nowhere to be seen- Jaya figured he’d run off, and saw that the soldiers were fleeing- good, it was time for her and the Baroness to escape. She was so worried the poor droid would end up giving her life for Jaya-

 

“STOP!” a booming voice called out- Jaya spun around in midair, and saw that it was Alasar, barrelling towards them on his speeder bike, looking like a madman.

 

Not taking any chances, Jaya flew towards him from a safe distance, ducking and weaving through the trees to give herself some cover- but he dodged all her shots, and managed to avoid getting so much as scraped by the dense trees and foliage surrounding them.

 

At first Jaya assumed he simply had no idea what he was doing, then in stunned horror, realized he was trying to ram the Baroness. She felt an immediate pull from outside herself- she had to stop this. Throwing caution to the wind, she barreled towards him at full speed on her jetpack, and blasted at his speeder bike at point blank.

 

That proved a mistake, as he pulled out his saber and deflected her shots right back at her- and managed to secure a hit squarely to her side, in the small chink she’d gotten earlier. Jaya screamed in pain, and barely managed to maintain flight, as she fought to stay conscious.

 

Blinking through the pain, she saw that the Baroness, not seeing any danger from this small speeder bike, was trying to blast at its occupant as he approached, but was unable to score a single hit.

 

“Baroness,” Jaya coughed into her comlink, “Get out...get out of here..”

 

Before she could even respond, the so-called Jedi rammed into her, but not before backflipping off the bike and gently landing, an impossible feat...unless…

The thought was interrupted when the bike, shortly after colliding with the Baroness, jerked upwards, quite impossibly- then Jaya saw that Alasar had his hand outstretched, and was motioning negligently in sync with the movements of the wrecked bike, as it tore the Baroness apart from the inside out.

 

“No!” Jaya screamed, and she flew towards Alasar at a mad pace, no longer caring about the pain in her side, or the fact that this was suicidal.

 

To her amazement, the Jedi didn’t even react to her, and she careened straight into him, throwing him to the ground, and sending his lightsaber flying off into the woods. The impact shocked her, and she barely managed to shut off her pack before she crashed into the Baroness herself.

 

Getting to her feet as quickly as possible, Jaya surveyed the damage done to her friend- it wasn’t irreparable, but it was serious. There was no way she could escape under her own power- Jaya would need to call the _Crow_ in, and she didn’t have the time.

 

“Huntress,” the Baroness sputtered, her voice distorted and faint, “Go- I will slow him down.”

 

Jaya could not bring herself to respond, and, activating her jetpack, took off into the smoke-filled sky…

 

When she finished relaying the story, Jaya felt tears welling to her eyes- it had been two years, now, and yet the memory was as bright as if it had happened yesterday. SP had rolled up to her, and was looking up at her with as much concern as was possible for someone like him. She smiled down at him, and gently stroked his dome.

 

“I see this was not easy for you,” Mordiss said soberly, “And I also see that that Paladin Alasar’s report of your skills was more or less accurate.”

 

He stepped over to look at a star map on the other side of the room. “Now that I’m certain of your skills, I feel comfortable entrusting you with a rather sensitive task.”

 

Jaya looked up at him,. “And what would that be?”

 

Mordiss cocked his head at her. “It’s a little mission to a world, in the Mid Rim,” he paused, to bring up a crimson world in one of the Mid Rim regions, near the border between the Sith, the Hutts and the Dominion- which brought up further bad memories for her.

 

“You do know that I was working for the Hutts during that mission, right?”

 

Mordiss turned his head around, rather disconcertingly, “I’m aware of how the Hutts repay someone who fails them so dramatically, yes.”

She glared at him, but said nothing.

 

“And I am also aware that the Dominion has put a bounty on you, for your actions on that world,” he turned to her, “Rest assured, this mission will not bring you into their territory.”

 

“Alright,” Jaya said, “Then what do you want me to do?”

  
“What I want,” Mordiss said, “Is for you to bring me a certain droid...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this one took way longer than I'd hoped- ultimately I scrapped the original version of this chapter, and the ones following it, and spent the better part of a week struggling to come up with how to pull this off. The main problem was putting the two very different but equally important parts of Jaya's introduction (Her backstory with Alasar and her being hired by Mordiss) together in a way that was natural enough. I think in hindsight the solution was obvious, but it was still tricky to get them to flow.
> 
> (Also, not likely to come up in the actual story: Mordiss is an Echani, hence the pale flesh.)


	4. Sauzer 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sauzer returns, and meets up with his master to discuss what he saw back on Dxun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this took way too long to write for something so short- I think from now on, I'm going to stick to keeping them between 2000 and 4000 words, cause last chapter was ridiculous, and took way too long to write. At any rate, I am pleased with how this one came out- looking forward to hearing what you all think of it!

Sauzer woke up, feeling oddly weightless, and disoriented. When he inhaled, he realized he was wearing a breath mask over his face. As he looked through the mask’s visor, he saw that his was in a cylinder filled with a swirling, orange liquid- a recovery tube. He recognized the fluid as hemo- a Sith healing compound.

 

The Sith weren’t well-stocked in hemo on Dxun, it was the sort of thing you’d find on the wealthier worlds of the Confederacy. He must've been a Sith MedLab on some other world, then, or on one of their starships.

 

He wondered how long he’d been unconscious, floting there in the tank- his injuries had been severe, but hemo was more effective even then kolto when it came to healing, so it was hard to judge.

His thoughts were interrupted when the hemo was drained from the tube and the cylinder opened, exposing him to a biting cold draft. He tore the mask from his face, and was blinded by the light of the room. He tried to remain stoic- though he could not help but shiver from the cold.

 

“Here, sir!” A chipper metallic voice called out, before Sauzer found himself being blasted with air so hot he was surprised he didn’t burst into flames. His eyes having finally adjusted to the light, he saw that the speaker was a medical droid- the only other occupant in the room, which was filled with medical monitoring devices, a few canisters of hemo, and some supply crates.

 

“T-thank you,” Sauzer said, shaken by the sudden temperature shift. He sneezed, “Can I get some clothes?”

 

The droid that had blasted him with hot air nodded, and pulled some clothes out of a compartment in its torso, before handing them to Sauzer.

 

He nodded in gratitude, and dressed himself- in what he saw was a Confederate Officer’s uniform, rather than Sith robes. He smirked briefly- he’d always preferred the more militaristic style of the non-Sith army uniforms to the Sith’s often impractical robes and armor, but realized that was unbecoming of a Sith, and scowled.

 

“Where am I?” he asked the droid, “And how long have I been here?”

 

“You are aboard the _Interdictor_ -class starship _Wayfarer_ , flagship of Chancellor Jaya Shan, and you have been here for a standard week.”

 

“Has it been that long.” he mused- it unsurprising, given the intensity of the fight he’d gotten into, though he was curious as to what he missed. “And you say Chancellor Shan commands this vessel?”

 

“Indeed, sir!” the droid said, “And she instructed me to escort you to her as soon as you awoke.”

 

So, his Master had words for him- this would be interesting, he thought, recalling the unusual vision he had back in the tomb on Dxun.

 

Sauzer nodded his assent, and gestured for the droid to lead on. The machine shuffled out of the medbay, and into a sterile corridor- painted jet-black, as was typical of Sith ships. Sauzer had always found this a stylish choice, but one sadly undermined by another bit of Sith design- red lighting _everywhere_.

 

It wouldn’t have been so bad if it was at least a warm red, and bright enough to see clearly- but no, the Sith were of the Dark side, and thus the light was a dim, dark red that was almost as impossible to see in as pure darkness.

 

As Sauzer followed the droid through the _Wayfarer_ ’s corridors, they encountered very few beings- a handful of soldiers who barely acknowledged Sauzer’s presence, and a few maintenance workers, who were doing their best to go unseen.

 

It was unsettling to be on a starship with so few people- though it was typical of a ship that made extra-solar trips, given the inherent dangers of a Hyperspace jump. Still, Sauzer found it disconcerting that a being as powerful as Chancellor Shan- his Sith Master, could not fully crew her own flagship.

 

After a long, quiet walk, the droid stopped in front of a large, reinforced security door.

 

“This is the Chancellor’s private sanctum- she has requested that you alone enter.”

 

“As it should be.” Sauzer said, not even looking at the droid as he walked up to the door- which opened up as he approached, and, wordlessly, he entered.

 

The room was spartan, as was Chancellor Shan’s style- the only furnishings were a small, stiff-looking bed, a desk covered in durasheets, and a computer, running a program that Sauzer recognized as an archaeological program that his Master was fond of.

 

In an out of the way alcove of the room, there sat a pedestal with a simple cushion on it, on along the walls of the alcoves were shelves of Holocrons- mostly tetrahedronal Sith holocrons, but a good portion were also visibly the cubes preferred by the Jedi Order.

Sitting in the alcove was Sauzer’s Master, Jaya Shan- Chancellor of the Sith Confederacy, and among the most powerful beings in the Galaxy. She was sitting in quiet contemplation, wearing an outfit that exposed much of her dark-skinned body, clearly deep in concentration. Around her, several active Holocrons, Jedi and Sith alike, floated in circles around her. Though he could not see it, Sauzer could sense that she was taking in knowledge from the masters of the Force who had crafted them.

 

He was hesitant to interrupt- his Master, while not quick to anger, was not likely to be pleased if anyone, even him, interrupted her when she was so deep in meditation. He considered taking a seat- on her bed, he supposed, given the lack of chairs in the room-

 

“Come over here,” he heard his Master rasp, “We have much to discuss.”

 

Sauzer nodded, and made his way across the room, then kneeled before his Master.

 

“What is it thou would ask of me?” he inquired, in as regal a tone as he could manage.

 

She raised a hand, to silence, him, before carefully using her telekinesis to place the Holocrons back into their slots in her alcove. She opened her eyes, and blinked before finally glaring at Sauzer with her golden eyes. They were unusual for a Sith- not quite the same color as that of one who has been immersed in the Dark side, but more of a natural yellow, a rare shade to be sure, that marked Jaya as one not only of great power in the Force, but shone brilliantly with the great intelligence she possessed.

 

“Tell me what has happened, Sauzer- all I was told by the recovery team is that you were badly injured, and that you found a strange Holocron.”

 

Sauzer nodded- he told her the story of the vision he’d had, the tomb he had uncovered, and the Force Adepts he encountered in there, and, most significant of all, the massive creature he had fought that he barely managed to defeat.

 

Master Shan nodded at all of this, and stroked her chin thoughtfully. She stood for a moment, before walking over to a wall panel outside the alcove, and pulling out a jumpsuit and coat.

 

“This is important news you’ve brought me,” she said, slipping into the legs of the jumpsuit, “News I’ve been waiting for, for some time now.”

 

Sauzer smiled, and nodded. “Thank you Master, I live to serve.”

 

She chuckled. “I hope you’re not being serious, Sauzer,” she paused, to pull her arms into the sleeves of the jumpsuit, “Because that would be quite _un_ -Sith.”

 

He winced, grimacing at the reminder of the tightrope that he, as a Sith Apprentice had to walk- be obedient to his Master, yet show ambition and self-motivation, without allowing one to overshadow the other.

 

“At any rate Sauzer,” she said, zipping up the suit, “I think this was a great success for you- certainly you’ve come along way from the callow boy I met those years ago out on Serenno.”

 

He smiled gently, reminiscing- he’d been so enamored with her, as a boy, and she had found his admiration so endearing she’d humored him by allowing him to enter the Sith Academy on Korriban, even though that one normally reserved itself for those who were themselves the children of influential Sith.

 

He’d been so grateful that he’d emulated her in  everything from fighting style, to Force use, and even in appearance- even now, he preferred to wear his hair braided, like she did, despite that being considered rather un-masculine by the other male students.

 

Her faith in him had paid off when he successfully outfought the other initiates in his class, and equally impressive to her was his sheer audacity- for he had challenged all of his rivals to a duel at once, and managed to outfight them by using their hatred for one another against them.

 

“Yes Master,” he said quietly, “It has been quite a trip.”

 

“Well then,” Master Shan said, pulling on her jacket, and popping up the collar, “I think it’s time I gave you your final test”

 

Sauzer’s eyes went wide- this was appropriate, of course, as he had been her full Apprentice for two years now, and accomplished much in that time. He was simply surprised that she had announced it so suddenly- he’d barely had time to take it in before she started talking again.

 

“I recognized that Holocron you found as one made by the ancient Sith Lord Vivus Raan- an alien of unknown species that rebelled against the legendary Marka Ragnos,” she strode over to the computer, and pushed a few buttons, calling up a Holo Image of several artifacts and locations- he recognized a few as being from the visions he saw, but most were unknown to him.

 

“As you can see,” Master Shan said, walking over to the image and gesturing broadly at it, “Many of these artifacts are organic constructs; products of powerful Sith Alchemy.”

 

Sauzer nodded, recalling her lessons in the great Alchemists of old- though oddly she’d never mentioned this ‘Vivus Raan’, and he wondered why this Lord, if so powerful, had been so obscure.

 

“Hemo is actually derived from a compound created by Raan, and I know that if we were to secure more of his relics, we will be able to create something as useful, if not more so.”

 

Sauzer took this all in- there had been some fascinating things in that vision, but if the flesh-creature he’d fought in the tomb had been a creation of Raan’s, he shuddered to think what other abominations could be conjured up.

 

“So, Master,” Sauzer said, a bit nervously, “Where specifically do you want me to go?”

 

She wordlessly pulled up an image of a world- one he recognized as being in the Ruusan system, though he couldn’t recognize which one it was. It was a world that looked as though it had once been lush, but now was so wracked by pollutants and degradation that the only remaining life would be vicious mutants, like the chemilizards common to Nal Hutta, or hardier species such as the cunning Jawas, who thrived on worlds far more wretched than this one.

 

“This is Nal Trassid, owned by Voontara the Hutt- an ancient member of the Hutt Cartel with ties going back to the old Sith Empire, that have been maintained to the present day. He will assist you in acquiring something called ‘The Heart of Raan’- not sure precisely what it is, but with a name like that, it must be important, and it’s rumoured to be on Nal Trassid.”

 

There was an oddness to her tone that Sauzer couldn’t place- perhaps it came from the juxtaposition of ancient Sith Alchemy and the disgusting world such a wonder had ended up on.

 

“Very well, my Master- shall I be going off on my own? And is this to be a covert mission?”

 

She nodded, “Yes to the latter- I don’t want the Council of Darths finding out about this, lest one of them get ideas about stealing the Chancellorship from me by acquiring some relic of ancient Sith sorcery. But to the former…” she trailed off, before pressing a com switch. “Send up the Ambassador.”

 

Sauzer cocked his head. “Ambassador, master?”

 

She smiled at him, not saying a word- and before Sauzer could process her statement, the silence was broken by the sound of the automatic door.

 

Into the room came bounding a tawny Human in a white suit and longcoat, with a well-groomed beard and short, curly hair. He was moving so fast he nearly ran into the Chancellor, and Sauzer lept to his feet, instinctively reaching for his lightsaber- which he couldn't find, before remembering it wasn’t there.

 

“Who are you?!” Sauzer blurted out, furious at this impertinent fool that had so rudely and carelessly interrupted them.

 

“Apologies!” He shouted- in a heavily-accented Basic, “I am not of the Sith, you see, and am not familiar with your customs!”

 

“Allow me to introduce myself,” the man said, bowing dramatically and grinning broadly, “My name is Tygo Antilles, of Alderaan- an Ambassador of the Galactic Republic to the Sith Confederacy, and I have been asked by your Chancellor to accompany you on a diplomatic mission to the Hutt world of Nal Trassid- which, if I do say so myself, is a fine idea, as a way to bridge the gap between our two nations, and perhaps even to improve the connection between our two nations and that of the Hutts- furthermore, Kuati presence in-”

 

“Enough!” Sauzer screamed, astonished that this man had not only been so oblivious to his fury as to maintain his ridiculously chipper tone, but that he could speak for so long without drawing a single breath- even now he barely seemed winded by his apparent run to the room and subsequent monologue.

 

“Apologies, apologies!” Antilles shouted, still grinning like an idiot, “As I had said, I am not accustomed to-”

 

“-I think what my Apprentice was saying,” Master Shan said, gently placing a hand on both of their shoulders, “Was that he’d heard enough to know that you will be a great asset to this mission, and he’s looking forward to working with you.” She briefly shot him a glare, and Sauzer could feel her anger with him.

 

“That….that’s right,” Sauzer said, simultaneously terrified and irritated by the absurd situation, “I think I’ve heard more than enough, in fact, to know that you’ll be a perfect addition to this mission.”

 

Antilles smiled at him again, and offered his hand, which Sauzer grudgingly shook, trying his best to smile. “Excellent, excellent! Then we will depart immediately, aboard my ship!”

 

Before Sauzer could object, the fool was dragging him off- he turned to his Master, silently pleading for her to do something, but she just laughed at him and waved goodbye.

 

What was he being dragged into?

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first, serious attempt at writing a story that's been brewing in my head for years now- barely recognizable, after a lot of changes. 
> 
> For reference, almost everyone in this story is an OC, given the time period- 1,000 years after KOTOR. (2,956 BBY, give or take a bit). When I started this I was under the impression that there was no material set during the time period- but then I found out that there's some backstory on Coruscant that HUGELY contradicts what I've written, but I said "Screw it, it's a fan fic." Generally I try to adhere to canon- but, and this is especially true when it comes to video game stories with multiple potential outcomes- I play around with ambiguity a bit.
> 
> So, there might be some nods to canon, or some blatant contradictions to canon- but on the whole, Crusade is meant to stand on its own.
> 
> Kudos appreciated, Comments DESPERATELY wanted.
> 
> -Zeible


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